Here we reveals the long list of successes that have brought him the top job, starting with the European Championships in June.

01 As a boy in Surrey he went to John Ruskin Grammar School and supported Crystal Palace. He was a scrawny kid, once saying: “I was very small and very slight so rugby would probably have been the death of me.”

02 As well as football he was a budding tennis player and was once invited to play doubles with ­Wimbledon winner Stefan Edberg.

03 He speaks five languages fluently – Norwegian, Swedish, Japanese, German and Italian. Hodgson even speaks a bit of Korean, Danish and Finnish.

04 In the early 1970s Roy worked as a PE teacher at Alleyn’s School in south London, and also at a school in Pretoria, South Africa.

05 He started managing aged 28, in 1976, for Swedish club Halmstad, taking them from relegation battles to two league titles. It was his “water into wine moment”, he says.

06 He also won five championships with Malmo and took FC Copenhagen to the Danish title.

07 When Hodgson managed in Sweden his nickname was “Royson”.

08 At international level he took the Swiss team to the 1994 World Cup, helped them qualify for Euro 96 and raised them to third in the FIFA rankings in 1993.

09 When he returned to England to manage Blackburn in 1997 he bought his wife Sheila and son, Chris, a car and took the side to a top six finish and qualified for the Uefa Cup.

10 He qualified for his coaching badge at just 23.

11 Roy plays the harmonica and has a love of expensive watches.

12 In 2010 he steered ­Fulham to the Europa League final which they lost 2-1 to Atletico Madrid in extra time.

13 His effect at the club caused actor and Fulham fan Hugh Grant, 51, to say: “I want to sleep with Roy Hodgson.”

14 In 2010 Roy went to manage Liverpool but left by mutual consent after just 191 days in charge. He said that he was “hurt” by the experience.

15 Hodgson is well read, liking highbrow literature such as Philip Roth and John Updike novels and also loves films like The King’s Speech. He is a fan of the TV series Mad Men.

16 Roy loves music. As well as being a massive Rolling Stones fan he also loves Otis Redding and Georges Bizet’s opera The Pearl Fishers.

17 Fortunately for England fans he also loves travelling, once saying: “I always try to get out of the hotel to see the churches and sights.”

18 Comparing his career to the Russian artist Kandinksy’s he said: “I’ve gone sideways, backwards and upwards again.”

19 He said after a defeat to Sunderland in 2008: “Allow me to grieve for the result in a dignified way and get out of here before I say something that makes me look an idiot.’’

20 In March Roy, who often attends international games as scout for Uefa, said he would give Euro 2012 a miss and “have a few weeks’ holiday”.